14 Apr 2023 - NSTR Shopping, Bourbon Hunting, Home Run Derby

 

Last year if you followed along with us you read about our stop at a campground north of Lexington KY and our visit to the Buffalo Trace Distillery.  Prior to that you may have read about our events at the Alliance National RV Rally, specifically the bourbon tasting in which we participated.  Bourbon is an interesting spirit.  It is a "barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn".  Bourbon was officially recognized in 1964 by the U.S. Congress as a "distinctive product of the United States". Bourbon sold in the U.S. must be produced in the country from at least 51% corn and stored in a new container of charred oak!  If it does not meet these criteria, then it may indeed be whiskey but it cannot be called "bourbon".  The tasting last year and the visit to Buffalo Trace Distillery sparked my interest  and I have started collecting on a very limited basis.  Of course "collecting" is coupled with a little tasting from time to time!  I had no idea the wide variance in taste of different bourbons.  But with my limited experience with all this I have developed a fondness for a Buffalo Trace bourbon called Eagle Rare.  My son-in-law has also started collecting various premium bourbons, so he texted me a list of bourbons he is wanting and asked if we would look for them on out travels this year.  Well absolutely!

Premium bourbons can be very difficult to find.  They are apparently distributed on a very limited basis to certain stores that meet distribution requirements.  So we started out the morning with a phone call to one of the local large wine and liquor stores to find out whether their allotment of premium bourbon arrived, and it had, so we headed to the store.  A couple days ago we stopped by and spoke with a manager, and they explained their allotments arrive on Tuesday and Friday mornings.  People will line up outside the store up to an hour before it opens to be at the head of the line so they might get a bottle of the "good stuff", and they are limited to one bottle per day.    

So we headed to the store and sure enough, Doreen counted 13 in line and more pulling in to the parking lot.  Several had brought their lawn chairs and you could tell they had been there a while!.  

So we joined the crowd and as we waited more people showed up.  We struck up a conversation with a couple guys ahead of us and they do this routinely. Apparently this group of one to two dozen people all know each other and see each other here every week.   We got to talking about bourbon and our RV travels.  We explained how we ended up partaking in a bourbon tasting event last summer followed by a trip to the Buffalo Trace distillery north and west of Lexington KY.  It seems that many of the Buffalo Trace bourbons are kind of hard to find and in very high demand.  Even at the distillery, they only offer one of their premium bourbons every day and only so many cases.  Once it is gone, it is gone.  People line up at the distillery store like they line up here, hoping to score a bottle!  I had no idea this was such a big deal!

So 1000 hrs rolled around and the doors opened.  In a very orderly fashion the crowd that had gathered outside entered the store in single file by when they arrived and they all marched towards the bourbon section.  We followed our new found friends. 

On the way we found a different Buffalo Trace bourbon called Weller Special Reserve that they were out of the other day, but no Eagle Rare.  All of a sudden there was some activity a couple aisles over and by the time Doreen got my attention it was too late.  One of the managers brought out their allocation of Eagle Rare on a cart, and it was just two cases with six bottles in each case.  Needless to say with all the regulars in front of us I did not get a bottle.  I did not go in with high expectations, so no problem.  

One of two empty Eagle Rare cases!

A little comic relief!

I grabbed a bottle of Weller for my son in law and a bottle of Buffalo Trace signature bourbon as did Doreen.  As we started for the checkout counter several of the "regulars" who we had stood with outside were gathered and one of them came up to us and offered me his bottle of Eagle Rare!!  They had apparently overheard our conversation about my fondness of Eagle rare and how it remained elusive.  I could not believe it!  Such a descent, compassionate guy! 

So, we finished up our shopping there picking up some Lone Star for our kids and some other stuff and then we headed back to the campground to unload.  

My prize bottle of Eagle Rare on the left!

Later we went back out and did a bit more shopping and then came back to the campground to grill some burgers and watch the campground fill up on Friday afternoon.

This evening our grandson Daniel participated in a home run derby competition in West Des Moines, and it was streamed so we could watch it!  

Friday night is also when a TV show called "Gold Rush" is on and we always try to watch it.  We have it recording.  The Chicago Cubs are playing tonight on the left coast at the LA Dodgers, so the night games start late - 9pm Central time.

We have not sorted out the plans for the weekend yet.  We've been down here before, so we've seen the "Grassy Knoll" and the "School Book Depository", and many of the other venues.  We have grandson baseball to watch Saturday afternoon.  Sunday we will fuel the truck and make preparations to bug out on Monday morning with our next stop being Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio TX.  

Thanks for checking in on us!